November 10, 2025
This post summarizes the published criminal opinions from the North Carolina Court of Appeals released on November 5, 2025. Special thanks to my colleague Brittany Bromell for her contributions to today’s post.
October 21, 2025
October 20, 2025
This post summarizes the published criminal opinions from the Court of Appeals of North Carolina released on October 15, 2025.
October 6, 2025
This post summarizes the published criminal opinions from the Court of Appeals of North Carolina released on October 1, 2025.
September 22, 2025
This post summarizes the published criminal opinions from the North Carolina Court of Appeals released on September 17, 2025.
September 16, 2025
September 15, 2025
Law enforcement officers in North Carolina must have good moral character to be certified, and may lose their certification if they lose their good moral character. The requirement of good moral character is neither unique to North Carolina nor exclusive to law enforcement officers. At the same time, it is a difficult standard to apply, as illustrated by a recent decision issued by the Supreme Court of North Carolina. This post provides context for that decision and explores its reasoning.
September 8, 2025
This post summarizes the published criminal opinions from the North Carolina Court of Appeals released on September 3, 2025. In defendant’s trial for felonious possession of stolen goods, admission of […]
August 27, 2025
This post summarizes the published criminal opinions from the North Carolina Supreme Court released on August 22, 2025. Previously, summaries were added to Smith’s Criminal Case Compendium, but due to personnel changes and resource limitations, that resource is no longer available. We will continue to post and archive new summaries here on the blog.
August 25, 2025
This post summarizes the published criminal opinions from the North Carolina Court of Appeals released on August 20, 2025. An indictment for injuring property to obtain non-ferrous metals was sufficient despite the lack of any allegation concerning the value of the property damage. State v. Council, No. COA25-78 (N.C. Ct. App. Aug. 20, 2025) (Hampson). In this Durham County case, the defendant was suspected of stealing a catalytic converter from a truck. He was indicted for, and convicted of, felony larceny and felony injury to property to obtain non-ferrous metals. He appealed, asserting that the indictment for the injury to property charge was defective for failing to specify the value of the property damage.